Incidence of Abnormal Haemoglobins in Pulmonary Tuberculosis

There is evidence from the study of twins (Lenz, 1963; Carter, 1969) of a genetic predisposition to certain diseases, in particular pulmonary tuberculosis. But there are apparently no published reports of an association of pulmonary tuberculosis and ABO-Rh blood groups, haemoglobin, and immunoglobin types. Saha and Banerjee (1968) could not establish an association between ABO-Rh blood groups and the presence of pulmonary tuberculosis, though there was a lower incidence of 0 group persons among Chinese patients. No relation was found between pulmonary tuberculosis and glucose6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in any of the three ethnic groups studied (Saha, 1969). The results of these observations prompted the use of another genetic marker, namely abnormal haemoglobin gene, to study the genetic predisposition to pulmonary tuberculosis. Inquiries have been made in the past by other workers into a possible association of A-S and A-C traits with pulmonary tuberculosis, but the results were inconclusive (Table I). In most of the studies the numbers of patients were too few to provide acceptable information, and in none of these studies were different ethnic groups investigated along with simultaneous investigation of controls. Inquiries on different ethnic groups are needed